Method of treating oil wells



June 9, 1964 T. T. GRAHAM 3,136,359

METHOD 0F' TREATING OII.. WELLS Filed Aug. ll, 1961 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 u www W h M1 5 mw fu.. 6I

m M l u /2 mm L B MAT) I lNJEcmoN Wem.

To DVI' K F'CQ Pxzooucme WELL pRoDucme WELL pppucme C-oGvsT-LE-v:

June 9, 1964 T. T. GRAHAM 3,136,359

METHOD oF TREATING om WELLS Filed Aug. l1, 1961 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 STAcK/*Q /33 2 7 A T d ll E 23 d ,Ja I 2l 29 O pnessune pnsssune 26 WATER METER l V Em? Anz FLOW METER az C K 2z 34 L TEMP. z8 Z7 CoNrnox. FUEL 33 Suasa TANK mmc-fwn Anz Coma Fnn'ew.

BLow DQwN Lme Tlmelz To pw Thomas 7.' Gral-fmm INV EN TOR.

June 9, 1964 T. T. GRAHAM METHOD oF TREATING ou. WELLS 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 11, 1961 VALVE OPEN D u w .n c O A W w r: N. M v v v o s o P 9 o o l m o 5 9g 9 w IV O L c w L 7 950 PSL-VALVE OPEN Thms T Graham BY// Z June 9, 1964 T. T. GRAHAM 3,136,359

METHOD OF' TREATING OIL WELLS Filed Aug. 11, 1961 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 REFLUX l lNJEcTxoN WELL Pszooucme WELL IOOO PS\ Lum-x1 Hwnocmnows Thomas 7'. Graham v nINVENTOR.

Uni'ted States Patent Office Patented June 9, 1964 This invention relates to a method of treating wells, and more particularly to a process for extracting difficultly recoverable oil from oil-bearing formations.

This application is a continuation in part of my cpending application Serial No. 672,829 filed July 18, 1957, now abandoned which is a continuation-in-part of my prior application Serial No. 404,255 filed January '15, 1954, now abandoned.

The invention nds particular application in connection with abandoned or poorly producing oil fields, such as oil iields wherein much or all of the freely recoverable oil has been removed from the wells by pumping, gas lift, or the like, and additional means must be employed to bring further quantities of oil to the surface.

In practicing this invention it is preferred to provide heat for the formation at the surface, but if desired this invention can employ the in situs combustion principle.

For maximum recovery in secondary recovery operations a driving force should be applied to the formation to drive oil into recovery wells, and the formation should be heated to reduce the viscosity of the oil. The materials selected forproviding the drive and heat must be carefully selected and controlled. Preferably, compressed air is used to provide both pressure and heat to thejformation. However, if the air is dry, clogging of the formation results, and therefore compressed air is not satisfactory when used alone. Moisture should be vadded continuously to the formation to prevent clogging, and for the additional reason that better recovery is possible where some water is present in the formation. Water in liquid form is not satisfactory as the permeability of most formations for water is relatively low. Therefore, steam is used to provide moisture. y

It is well known when air is injected into a formation at elevated temperatures, an exothermic reaction sometimes occurs, known in the art as in situ combustion or re. In the past no method has been known for controlling this combustion, as there is ample air in the formation to support combustion. While combustion generates pressure and heat which are desirable, elevated temperatures are also present which result in coking and otherwise stopping of the pores of the formation. By this invention this exothermic reaction is readily detected shortly after it begins and is either controlled by permitting it to be carried out at a low temperature, or stopped completely by the application of sui'licient steam to prevent the reaction from being carried out at a high temperature, or prevent the reaction from occurring at all, as desired. By this invention the injection well and surrounding formation are also kept clear of liquids which impede the movement of moist gas into the formation.

An object of this invention is to provide a method of secondary recovery of oil in which hot air under pressure may be used to drive oil from a formation and any rin situs combustion readily detected and controlled. y

Another object is to provide a method of secondary recovery in which hot air under pressure may be used to drive oil from a formation and any in situs combustion readily detected and extinguished.

Another object is to provide a method of secondary recovery in which hot air and steam under pressure may be used to drive oil from a formation, condensate periodically removed from the well to prevent its interference with the action of the air and steam, and any in situ cornbustion readily detected and controlled.

. densate in the lower end of the well being raised, and in` Another object is to provide a method of secondary recovery in which hot gas and steam under pressure may be used to drive oil from a formation, and the well and formation adjacent the well bore kept open.

Another object is to provide a method of secondary recovery in which gasand steam under pressure are used to drive oil from a formation in which the formation is periodically refluXed to prevent the formation from clog-V ging up.

Another object is to provide a method of secondary recovery in which hot air under pressure and steam are injected into a formation, the injection well and formation periodically reiluxed to remove condensate from the well, the formation reuxed to keep it open, and the temperature of the eluent determined to detect the presence of lire in the formation, any iire detected controlled or eX- tinguished, if desired, by varying the rate of steam injected in the injection well, and recovering oil from a producing well spaced from the injection well.

Other objects, features and advantages will be apparent from the specification, the drawings and the claims.

In the drawings, wherein an illustration of this invention is shown, and wherein like reference numerals indicate like parts:y i

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic plan view illustrating the preferred arrangement of injection well and producing wells in accordance with this invention; v

FIGURE 2 is a diagrammatic plan view illustrating a preferred arrangement of apparatus for carrying out theV methods of this invention.

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary sectional viewv through a well showing the portion of the well which penetrates a surrounding oil-bearing formation and illustrating a portion of the manner in which the method of this invention is carried out;

FIGURES 4A, 4B and 4C are schematic-views in vertical section through an injection well showing the refluxing action of this method and illustrating the well in FIGURE 4A before reiluxing, the well in FIGURE 4B at the beginning of the reuxing action showing the con- FIGURE 4C the end lof lthe refluxing action in which the condensate is being driven from the well;

FIGURE 5A is a schematic view illustrating the pressures present in the well and surrounding lformation during injection; Y

FIGURE 5B is a View similar to FIGURE 5A showing the pressures present in `the'well during refluxing;

FIGURE 6 is a graph plotting time against pressures showing bottom hole pressure during injection and refluxy ing; and,

FIGURE 7 is a diagrammatic view in section showing gas being injected into the well and oil being driven toward a producing well from which it is recovered.

p In practicing thepreferred form of this invention airand steam under pressure and at elevated temperature is injected into an injection well reaching down to a producing formation. Oil is recovered from one or more producing wells spaced from the injection well.

Periodically a tubing in the injection well is opened for a short period of time to permit pressure in the bottom of the well to drive up through the tubing and out at the surface any liquids which have accumulated in the bottom of the well. This feature of theinvention has several resulting advantages. If liquids remain in the bottom of the well they interfere with the. action of the injected hot gases and steam as the formation will have va much lower permeability for liquids than for vapors. A secondadvantage is that by opening the tubing to a low, preferably atmospheric, pressure, reverse ow is obtained across the formation faceand the Vadjacent areas of the formation to open up the formation and maintain the high permeability for vapors. A third advantage is that the temperature of the effluent material will indicate the presence of fire in the formation. After the system has been in practice for some time the temperature in the bottom of the injection well will be such that little or no liquids will accumulate in the bottom of the well. At this time the reuxing action keeps the formation open and the face of the formationeclean, as well as giving an indication of the presence or absence of re in the formation.

VWhen a fire is indicated in the formation, the percentage of steam is preferably increased and the tire extinguished.V

As soon as the fire is extinguished the steamvolume is preferably cut back to prevent the injection into the well of an unnecessary amount of water which,`if continued, might result in channeling in the formation.

Where it is desired to permit combustion in the formation, the method is carried out as broadly outlined, and only such volume of steam injected as necessary to prevent runaway combustion, that is at high temperatures.

From what has been said above, it is apparent that, instead of air, inert gas or a gas which will not support combustion may be injected. Where inert gas is injected in accordance with this invention, it will be found that reiiuxing of the formation and injection well will keep the well and formation open and receptive to the injected gases. Air is preferred for economic reasons.

In secondary recovery systems the injection system must be periodically shut down for repairs. It will be appreciated that the bottom hole temperature will drop and condensate will accumulate in the injection well. Refluxing will clean out the Well and adjacent formation and greatly reduce the time necessary to bring -the formation back up to the desired temperature and pressure as the condensate which forms in the bottom of the well at lower temperatures and the oil, etc. which drains from the surrounding formation are removed.

Referring now to the drawings in detail for a detailed explanation of the method of this invention, reference is first made to FIGURE l. Water from a suitable source is delivered by pump to a heater 11 wherein ,it is converted to steam. Compressed gas is delivered by a pump 12 to heater 11 wherein it is heated to the desired temperature. The hot gas and steam pass from the heater to the injection well 13 and are injected into the formation. Periodically the injection Well is opened to atmosphere or to a reduced pressure to clean out the well and reiiux the formation. The effluent from the Well has its temperature Y sensed by thermometer 14. If the temperature is above a selected value, the rate of water delivery by pump 10 will be Varied either` automatically or manually, as desired, to inject suicient water to control re indicated by the elevated temperature. Oil will be recovered from the producing wells indicated at 15a through 15f, inclusive. Production may be had through natural flow is possible, or, if desired, production from the producing wells may be assisted by gas lift, pumps, or the like.

Reference is now made to FIGURE 2 wherein the apparatus is shown more in detail. Water from a suitable source is rst passed through filter 16 to filter out solids. The water is then treated in a water-treater 17 to remove additional solids. The softened water is stored in Water tank 18 awaiting use. Water is withdrawn from tank 18 by variable volume pump 10 and delivered to heater 11. En route the water is measured in water meter 19 and its pressure is sensed by pressure gauge 21. A back check valve 22 is provided in the line between the pump and heater to prevent back How.

In the heater the water Apasses through the preheat coils 23 wherein it is preferably converted into steam.

A suitable gas for use in the system, such as air, is

compressed by air compressor 2.4 to a desired pressure;

termined by thermometer 27 and the air is delivered to heater 11 through a suitable check valve 28 which prevents back flow of air. The pressure of the air is measured by pressure gauge 29. The air is passed through the preheat coil 31 in heater 11 and then mixes with the preheated steam at the junction 32 of the pre-heat coils 23 and 31. The mixture is then further heated in super-heat coils 33 in the heater.

As the hot steam and air leave heater 11, its temperature is determined by temperature controller 33a which automatically controls fuelinlet valve 34 to provide in the heater the required amount of fuel to obtain the desired temperature at the temperature controller 33. From temperature controller 33a the hot 'gas passes through check valve 35 and control valve 36 to the casing 37 of injection well 13. When the system is rst started up it is desirable to vent the gases from the heater until they come up to the desired temperature. For this purpose, the blow-down valve 38 is provided and remains open during normal startup of the system until the gas-tired heater comes up to temperature.

It will be appreciated that suitablechemicals may be injected at any desired point in the system to aid in the recovery of oil from the formation, to inhibit corrosion, etc.

The steam and air will pass down through casing 37 and into the formation as shown in FIGURE 3. As the formation is cold, the steam will quickly condense in the well bore and in the adjacent formation. At least in the early operation of the system, considerable sand and slag may be expected to accumulate in the bottom of the well. After a selected time interval, the tubing 39 of the injection well is opened, preferably to atmosphere, by a quick-opening valve 40. While valve 40 may be manually operated, it is preferred that it be operated by a timer control 41. The effluent from valve 40 is conducted to a suitable pit, separator, or the like, where any hydrocarbons therein may be recovered.

The condition of the well at the time of beginning the reux action is indicated in FIGURE 4A, and it will be noted that a body of liquid and slag has accumulated in the bottom of the well.V If this accumulation of liquid were permitted to continue, it would n'se to a high level in the well and require that the hot gas expend a portion of its energy in passing through the liquid. As the formation face would be covered with liquid, it would be more diiiicult for the vapors to penetrate into the formation.

When the quick-opening valve 4t) is opened, the pressure in the hole drives the slug of liquid and slag up the tubing, as shown in FIGURE 4B, to remove this slug of liquid and slag from the well. The slug of liquid and slag is shown leaving the well in FIGURE 4C, and it will be noted that due to the Wide-open tubing and the air pressure available in the casing and the pressure Within the formation, that substantially all of the liquid and slag will be removed from the bottom of the hole. After the slug of liquid and slag has passed through valve 40, the valve is closed and conditions will return to those shown in FIGURE 3.

As noted in FIGURE 3 and FIGURES 4A, 4B and 4C, the tubing extends down at least to the oil-bearing formation, and preferably down close to the bottom of the hole, Thus, when the reux induced by opening of valve 10 occurs, all of the liquid, sand and accumulated solids in the bottom of the Well will be blown up the tubing and removed from the well.

An illustrative pressure diagram is shown in FIGURES 5A and 5B. FIGURE 5A indicates 1,000 p.s.i. gas being introduced into tubing 39 to maintain on the face of the formation a pressure of about 950 p.s.i. Of course, the pressure drops with distance away from the well bore asindicatedin FIGURE 5. v

FIGURE 5B indicates the pressure situation when the tubing 39 is open for reuxing. The casing pressure at its upper end will drop to about'950 p.s.i. and the open hole pressure will drop to about 800 p.s.i. Then, as indicated at 42, there will be an annular area about the well and spaced therefrom having an equilibrium pressure of 900 p.s.i Radially out from the equilibrium area there will bel present in the formation progressively less pressure. Thus, it will be seen that refluxing or reverse flow of fluid in the formation adjacent the well will occur. This refluxing Will tend to keep the formation open and maintain its high permeability for gas, as well as keep the face of the formation open.

By way of example, a field being placed on steam in accordance with this invention may have its injection well or wells reiluxed each hour for a suflicient period to remove the liquids and solids from the bottom of the well, which may be about 14 seconds, as illustrated in FIG- URE 6. After normal production is obtained and the injection well and surrounding formation heated to a temperature at which little or no steam will condense in the open hole, and most of the liquids in the surrounding formation have been driven away from the injection well, the refluxing action may be drastically curtailed and, for example, refluxing once a day for about 14 seconds may be all that is required.

After an initial warmup, it will be found that the temperature of the injected gas can be raised to the desired level. For instance, it may be raised to a temperature in excess of 400 F. After the injection temperature reaches about 400 F., care must be exercised to avoid the formation catching on fire. For this reason a temperature gauge and controller 43'determines temperature of the effluent. At this time reuxing is preferably carried out very frequently to keep a constant check on the temperature of the effluent from the injection well. If this temperature is noted to climb unduly, this is an indication that the formation is on tire and, in accordance with this invention, the water pump is speeded up to increase the percentage of steam injected into the formation. This may be done automatically by the temperature controller 43 or manually if desired. This increased steam will extinguish the fire. Probably the steam blankets the fire and thus puts it out. In any event, it has been found that combustion may be controlled by steam. After a fire occurs, it is advisable to lower the input temperatures slightly to prevent reoccurrence of the fire until the hydrocarbons have been driven further away from the injection well. It will be appreciated that after a few days, the hot, moist air will have driven most of the hydrocarbons away from the injection well and back into the formation where a lower temperature prevails. Thus, after a feW days, it is safe to begin raising the temperature again until finally the temperature selected as desirable for the particular formation, depending upon its characteristics, is reached.

Even after full temperature is reached, it is desirable to continue reuxing the well to check against the possibility of a fire, to keep the hole clean, and to keep the formation face open.

As an alternative method, the formation can be permitted to burn, if desired. In this instance steam would be injected in an amount to prevent undue rise of temperature due to a runaway re. High temperature burning results in coking of the formation with attendant reduction in permeability, Which is undesirable. Therefore, sufficient steam should be injected to maintain the reaction at a relatively low temperature at which substantial coking will not occur. Reuxing permits a constant check on the temperature of the formation.

This invention has been proven in a Texas field having eight production wells and one injection well. Before practice of this method, the wellswere making from 1A, to 1/2 barrel per day. After several months of practicing this method, field production was increased to about 60 barrels per day. When this field was first placed on steam, the temperature of the formation was about 67 6. F. Several months later, oil recovered from-the wells had reached a temperature of 208 to 240 F. In the beginning steam and air at a temperature of about 250 F. were injected at a pressure of 500 p.s.i. After warming up for about a day, the temperature was increased to about 350 F. and the injection well was refluxed four times per hour for periods of 2 to 31/2 minutes. The Well was found to blow water, oil Vand sand on each reflux. The next day the temperature was raised to 375 F., and the pressure to 550 p.s.i. The well was reuxed for 2 to 3 minutes, four to ve times per hour, and blew oil, Water and sand at every blow. The next day, the temperature was raised to 450 F. and the pressure to 600 p.s.i. Reuxing was reduced to 22 to 28 seconds, four times per hour, and blew some oil, water and sand at each blow. The next day the temperaure was raised to 475 F. and the pressure to 625 p.s.i. The formation was found to be on re three times, and the temperature of the efuent from the injection well ranged from 420 to 460 F. The next day, the temperature being reduced to 465 F., the well was still on fire several times. In each case the fire was extinguished b increasing the amount of water injected.

The next day the temperature was further reduced to 460 F. and the temperature of the eflluent from the injection well ranged from 430 F. to 470 F. The formation was on fire at least one time, and took approximately 11/2 hours to extinguish. Having an air input of about 90,000 cubic feet per day, the water input varied from 5X1 of a gallon per minute when the formation was not on fire, up to 11/2 gallons per minute to extinguish the re. After this short period of time, it was found that the wells began making increased amounts of oil ranging from 1 to 7 barrels per day.

After about two weeks, it was found that casing pressure was beginning to build up on the production wells and an increase in temperature could be noted in some of the wells.

After about two months, refluxing was reduced to one time per hour for a period of about 12 to 18 seconds, to check the formation temperature, and to keep the formation adjacent the injection Well open.

After the initial problem with fires, no further difficulty was experienced with fires, and the temperature was gradually raised to about 525 F. and the pressure maintained around 600 to 700 p.s.i. As noted above, production of the field was increased from about 4 barrels lper day to about 60i barrels per day.

From the above it Will be seen that the objects of this invention have been attained, and it has been proven that a substantially depleted field can have its production greatly increased by the practice of this invention.

The temperature of the input air or gas is not critical except that it should not be so high as to maintain a fire in the formation unless it is desired to permit and maintain a controlled low-temperature fire.

The pressure of the input gas may be such as desired, and normally the greater the pressure imposed on the formation the greater the rate of recovery of oil.

The volume of gas available will also affect the rate of recovery, and normally an increase in volume of gas Will result in an increased rate of recovery.

The percentage of water employed may vary greatly, it only being necessary to provide sucient steam to prevent the formation from drying out and caking up. The volume of water vapor will normally be less than 25%, and usually will vary from about 3% to 15%.

Air need not be used. Where inert gas is used, refluxing will keep the well and surrounding formation open.

When in situ combustion is planned, hot air may be injected or unheated air injected and combustion initiated in other ways known to those skilled in the art. When cold air is injected, the need for water vapors is not present to a great degree as cold air does not tend to dry out the formation.

The foregoing disclosure and description of the invention is illustrative and explanatory thereof, and various changes in the size, shape and materials, as Well as in the details of the illustrated construction, may be made within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. A method of recovering oil from an oil-bearing fori mation into which a plurality of well bores extend, one of said bores having a tubing therein extending down t0 at least the oil-bearing formation, said other bore providing a production Well comprising, injecting steam and heated gas into the injection Well under pressure to provide heat and pressure to drive oil in the formation toward the production well, periodicallyopening said tubing at the surface for a short period of time to reflux said formation and remove from the injection well liquid which may have accumulated therein to thereby clean out the Well and the oilebearing formation adjacent the Well, and recovering oil from said production well.

2. A method of recovering oil from an oil-bearing formation into which a plurality of well bores extend, one of said bores having a tubing therein extending down to at least the oil-bearing formation, said other bore providing a production Well comprising, injecting steam and heated air into the injection well under pressure to provide heat and pressure to drive oil in the formation toward the production well, periodically opening said tubing at the surface for a short period of time to reflux said formation and remove from the injection Well liquid which may have accumulated therein to thereby clean out the well and the oil-bearing formation adjacent the Well, measuring the temperature of the eiuent from the injection Well to detect the presence of fire in the formation, increasing the volume of steam injected when a re is detected to control the fire, and recovering oil from said production well.

3. A method of recovering oil from an oil-bearing formation into which a plurality of Well bores extend, one of said bores having a tubing therein extending down to at least the oil-bearing formation, said other bore providing a production Well comprising, injecting air into the injection well to provide with the hydrocarbons in'the formation a combustible mixture, setting the combustible mixture on fire, thereafter injecting steam and air into the injection well under pressure to drive oil in the formation toward the production well, periodically opening said tubing at the surface for a short period of time to reux said formation and remove from the injection well liquid which may have accumulated therein, measuring the temperature of the effluent from the injection Well, Varying the Volume of steam injected to control the temperature of said re, and recovering oil from said production Well.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,390,770 Barton et al Dec. 11, 1945 2,839,141 Walter June 17, 1958 2,862,557 Utenhove et al Dec. 2, 1958 2,901,043 Campion et a1 Aug. 25, 1959 

1. A METHOD OF RECOVERING OIL FROM AN OIL-BEARING FORMATION INTO WHICH A PLURALITY OF WELL BORES EXTEND, ONE OF SAID BORES HAVING A TUBING THEREIN EXTENDING DOWN TO AT LEAST THE OIL-BEARING FORMATION, SAID OTHER BORE PROVIDING A PRODUCTION WELL COMPRISING, INJECTING STEAM AND HEATED GAS INTO THE INJECTION WELL UNDER PRESSURE TO PROVIDE HEAT AND PRESSURE TO DRIVE OIL IN THE FORMATION TOWARD THE PRODUCTION WELL, PERIODICALLY OPENING SAID TUBING AT THE SURFACE FOR A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME TO REFLUX SAID FORMATION AND REMOVE FROM THE INJECTION WELL LIQUID WHICH MAY 